Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Explaining



In a message dated 98-02-19 18:21:31 EST, Leigh writes:

<<Unless you imagine that the electrons can acquire
their kinetic energy during their transit of the resistor,
however, you have to acknowledge that they pack the energy in
with them as electric potential energy when they enetr the
resistor, and they fritter it away in a series of short falls
and inelastic bounces, a frantic glissade.>>

Why can't the electrons acquire kinetic energy during their transit of the
resistor? Isn't the electric field continuous through the resistor? Would
this not affect the electrons' kinetic energies in a discontinuous way as they
drift through the resistor and interact with the lattice? Why couldn't the
electrons acquire, then transfer kinetic energy to the lattice as they drift
through it?

<< Such descriptions as these I find do stimulate students'
thinking, but they are too vivid for some. The latter group is
really turned on by the revelation that it can all be put down
to Pynting flux, by the way. >>

So, are you saying that some sudents would prefer the purely mathematical
approach and not consider the physical meaning?

Bob Carlson